From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The energy industry is a generic term for all
of the industries involved
the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining and
distribution. Modern society consumes large amounts of fuel, and
the energy industry is a crucial part of the infrastructure
and maintenance of society in almost all countries.

Environmental impact

Because of government encouragement in the form of subsidies and taxincentives, energy conservation efforts are
also being increasingly viewed as a major function of the energy
industry, as saving an amount of energy has almost identical
economic benefits to generating that same amount of energy. This is
compounded by the fact that the economics of delivering energy tend
to be priced for capacity as opposed to average usage. One of the
purposes of a smart
grid infrastructure is to smooth out demand so that capacity
and demand curves are more closely aligned.

The energy industry generates a large amount of pollution, including the
generation of toxic gases and greenhouse gases from fuel combustion,
nuclear waste from nuclear power
generation, and oil spillages in the petroleum industry.
Government regulations to internalize these externalities form an increasing part of
doing business, and the trading of carbon credits and pollution credits on the free market may
also result in energy saving and pollution control measures
becoming even more important to energy companies.